


This is for the downtrodden

by sperchikoff7



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sperchikoff7/pseuds/sperchikoff7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Killian Jones and Emma Swan going to prom together? Not in this lifetime!<br/>Punk!Killian</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Punk!Killian

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick trigger warning: there is use of a gay slur, as well as a good bit of swearing, so if that is upsetting or triggering in any way, you might want to skip this one. Also there will be a second part to this with Emma's POV.

Robin keeps bothering him and telling him he will give him his limited release Clash record if he will just go over to Emma Swan’s table and ask her to prom. Killian’s first thought is “no way in hell,” but then he thinks for a moment and remembers how much he really wants that album and how many times he has thought about giving up his friendship with Robin just so he could steal the record from his house. Of course, because Killian is Killian and the brother of one Liam Jones who has brought him up with good form and to be a man of honor, he always throws that idea out the window and admonishes himself for thinking about giving up one of his two best friends for a record. The other friend being Tink, who, on occasion, pretends to be his girlfriend at the punk concerts the three of them like going to. He has not really been interested in dating anyone since he met Milah, and he really has never known how to talk to girls, so Tink helps out if a girl ever approaches him.

Milah was the one who did most of the conversing in the beginning of their relationship, her being eighteen and him sixteen, until he got comfortable with the fact that she wanted anything to do with him. His drunken, deadbeat dad had just left a few months earlier, left him and Liam with little to nothing but the house and the boat they inherited from their mother that sat in the driveway most of the time anyways. Milah started off as a distraction from his life that was in utter disarray but as the relationship progressed he realized he was completely in love with her. Ya, he knew they weren’t supposed to be together, that it wasn’t really legal, but he didn’t care about the numbers when he knew how much they loved each other. Which, come to find out, she actually didn’t. She didn’t actually love him. Not as much as he loved her. Not in the end. Not when he found her making out with an older guy at her birthday party. He had got so drunk that night, racing to the local grocery store and swiping the first bottle he could find (rum, of course) and drinking himself so drunk he forgot about the tears that were falling down his cheeks.

The next morning Killian woke up in a state between hungover and dead, with one word running through his mind: genetics. Of course that didn’t stop him from continuing drinking or stealing or fighting or participating in some rather stupid rebellious acts just to piss off Liam. Eventually Liam got fed up and brought out the big guns: the Jones family photo album. All it took was for him to see the last pages of the book, the pictures of his mom in the hospital and his dad nowhere to be found, for him to finally get his shit together.

So, to say the least, he has been through a lot shit during his eighteen years of life, let alone his high school years and he doesn’t have much to lose by going over to Emma Swan’s table. He is already at the bottom of the high school food chain, what with his eyeliner, his accent, and his thrift store clothes. He also concludes that it is The Clash and he REALLY wants that album. Robin stares at him blatantly, raising an eyebrow and smirking smugly, thinking he has proven his point. That point being that Killian has had a crush (infatuation?) on Emma Swan since he moved to Storybrooke in the sixth grade. He is now a senior at Storybrooke High and has yet to say more than a “hello” to the girl in question and he wasn’t even sure she was talking to him that one time it happened. But something in Killian pulls and snaps and he is gonna get that god damn (amazing) album and shove it in fucking Robin’s face.

“Fine,” he states confidently while getting up from his seat across from Robin.

Robin’s smirk turns into an open mouth look of bewilderment as Killian turns and begin walking over to the elusive table that he usually tries to stay as far away from as possible. Half the people at the table have bullied him in some form or another during his time in Storybrooke and the other half, that being the female half, has either sent cruel stares his way or talked to him, only to ignore him blatantly once their football boyfriends or less accepting friends came within earshot. Emma Swan is the only one at the table that has done neither of those things. He thinks she just doesn’t know of his existence. You can’t really bully or ignore someone you don’t know even roams the same planet as you.  
What started off as Killian’s “I could give a shit” stride has turned into cautious steps the closer he gets to the table. He thinks he has scratched the space beneath his ear about five times and it hasn’t even been a minute. But he is not going to give up. If flat out rejection and laughing is what is waiting for him, he will take it, if it means finally getting Emma Swan off his mind. He can take the ridicule. He has gotten used to it.

Emma’s back is facing him, so when he comes up next to her, slightly behind her chair, she does not see him at first. No. Neal “motherfuckin” Cassidy has to be the one to see him first.

“Woah. What the fuck are you doing over here, faggot? Pretty sure you’re supposed to sit on the other side of the cafeteria,” he spits as he gestures with his chin towards the direction Killian just came from.

When “that” word comes out of his mouth, Killian flinches. He does so every time he hears it, which is about a couple times a month when Neal and his friends decide it is his time of the month to be put in his “place.”

Killian looks around the table for a moment and sees Walsh and Felix high-five Neal. The rest of the table looks like they are trying to hide their utter disgust. Ruby Lucas looks like she might be about to tear Neal apart with her bare teeth, which he appreciates. Killian’s eyes finally land on Emma who apparently had been looking straight up at him for some time. Her green eyes shine as Killian pulls his blue ones down to meet hers. She lets a shy smile pass and that gives Killian enough of a confidence boost to speak, which he just realizes he hasn’t yet done.

“Hi, Emma.” _Good, Jones. Good start._

Emma seems to startle at the mention of her name and cautiously begins to speak

“Oh…um…hi. Um…sorry, I don’t know your name.”

At this point, Killian doesn’t care what the hell she calls him, as long as she keeps talking to him. Everyone else might as well leave because he doesn’t even know they exist while Emma’s distinct, sweet voice is speaking to him.

I’m Killian. Killian Jones,” he says, sticking out his hand in front of Emma.

She looks down and softly grabs his hand. He could die a happy man now. Emma Swan is touching him and he is smiling his biggest and, he knows, his dorkiest smile. She gives him a small smile in return which then turns into a slightly shocked expression when Killian turns her hand and lightly kisses the top. He doesn’t know what he is thinking, just that his goddamn brother did that to a girl that came to the house once and she didn’t seem to mind, so what the hell?

Just as he is letting Emma’s hand go, he hears Neal speak up again. (Of course.)

“Jesus Christ. What a fucking loser,” he snickers.

Emma removes her gaze from Killian to glare at Neal.

“Shut up, Neal. This none of your business. My life is no longer any of your business, remember? Or would you like my father to remind you again?”

Neal’s mouth swiftly shuts and Killian has never been in more awe of anyone in his life. The fact that she would even try to defend him is a shock. Emma quickly turns her head and looks back into Killian’s eyes.

“Was there something you wanted, Killian?”

Oh shit. This is his moment. Killian takes a breath and decides to ask the question he has waited so long to say to her. _Come on, Jones. She is smiling. Keep going._

“Ya. I... Um…Emma would you like to go to…would you like to go to prom with me?” he stutters slightly but finally gets out the words, feeling his ears burning red in the process. He feels a weight come off his shoulders as he has finally said the words he had not had the courage to say for so long. He has finally asked Emma Swan out. Emma continues to stare up at him, her pink lips slightly parted. He thinks she might be partly shocked and partly confused, since this is the first time they have legitimately spoken and because it is him asking (stuttering) the question.

But before she can answer, most of the people at her table start laughing. He moves his gaze from Emma’s soft green eyes just as she also looks to see what the commotion is about. All the guys (including Neal, of course) and a few of the girls are laughing and Killian’s heart plummets to a splat on the floor and the weight that left his shoulders minutes ago comes back but in double.

“You think you have a shot with Emma Swan. Dude, what the fuck?” Walsh chokes out through his laughter.

“Jones, you got balls, but come on with the eyeliner and the ratty clothes…” Victor utters. He looks like he is trying to hide his laughter and be sympathetic but not enough that his words don’t sting Killian just as bad.

And then, because a good tongue-lashing could not be had without his involvement, Neal pipes up, having been on the verge of falling out of his chair from his cackling.

“Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. Emma is not that easy,” he exasperates as Killian sees Emma stop from looking at her lap to glaring wildly at Neal.  
“Dude, you couldn’t afford to take Emma out,” he pauses slightly to catch a little more breath he lost from his laughing fit. “God if her dad wouldn’t let me take her out anymore, he is certainly not gonna let her out with your welfare ass.”

At that, Killian begins to feel his eyes get tight and his throat start to close up. He will not cry in front of these people. He will not. He tries to take deep breaths and get himself under control so he can get the hell back to Robin and his stuff and get the hell out of the cafeteria and to his next class. Emma probably wants nothing to do with him now.

As if it was reading his mind, the bell signaling the end of lunch blares through the air and the room begins to empty with students shuffling to their next classes. Killian stands stock still, looking at his dirty, old Converse. He can sense everyone at Emma’s table getting up from their seats, gathering their things, and beginning to move towards the cafeteria doors. Killian lifts his head up and sees Emma standing in front of him, pulling the straps of her red backpack onto her shoulders. Once she’s finished, she looks up. Her soft, perhaps happy, gaze that Killian thought he read when they first began talking is gone and she just looks sad. He will not wait around for that sadness to turn to pity. He quickly turns and walks back to his table and gathers his things. When he turns back to exit the cafeteria, Robin is by his side trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. Killian can just make out Emma’s red bag and her long, blonde hair through the large cafeteria windows. She is disappearing down a hallway beyond his sight and, luckily for him, he thinks, in the opposite direction to which he is going.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killian crashes through the double doors out into the fresh air, leaving the stuffy walls of school behind. Thank god it is Friday indeed, because he doesn’t know what he would do if he had to go back the next day after the disaster that happened at lunch. The rest of his classes, the two he had after lunch, went by at a snail’s pace, especially his last class which Walsh and Victor happened to be in (Lucky him). Now he can get the hell out of here and get home to crash on the couch, listen to some Stooges and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and hope Liam doesn’t notice how utterly wrecked he is. He knows he will. He is his brother for god’s sake and he can always tell when Killian has had a bad day. Sometimes as soon as Liam walks in the door, coming home from his sell-out job at Boat Rental Inc., he can take one look at Killian and ask what they said to him today.

Killian decides to push those thoughts away for the moment and walks to the beat up pick-up truck that was bought when his mom was still alive and they were all happy. He opens up the passenger side first and throws his book bag on the seat, slams the door shut and walks around to the other side, only to stop halfway when he notices someone leaning against the trunk of a dull grey four-door sedan parked next to him. Someone with long blonde hair and a red backpack. Someone who is wearing dark, tight skinny jeans and a white sweater (she always looks so bloody perfect). Someone whose green eyes are warily looking straight into his blue ones. All he can do is stand and stare because to his eyes it looks like Emma Swan is standing there waiting for him and that can’t be the case.

“Hi Killian.”

“Hi,” he answers, keeping all his guards up, just in case. He does not know what to think, his mind immediately going to this being some prank. “I don’t think I can take much more today, Emma.”

Her neutral face turns into one of concern.

“No. No, I am not here for… that.” She looks down for a moment, looking like she is trying to put her thoughts together and figure out exactly what she wants to say.

Killian starts first, tiredly pressing his fingers harshly into his eyes until he sees spots. “Emma, if you don’t mind, I would really just like to get the hell outt-

“Would you just shut up for a minute?!” she yells, snapping Killian out of his mood and wondering how the hell that came out of the sweet girl he was talking to earlier.

_Maybe you don’t actually know her, Killian, ya know, since you only talked to her for the first time today, you bloody idiot._

Killian nods his head forward, signaling for her to continue.

“I am not that girl Killian. I am not the girl you seem to think I am based on how you just walked away from me at lunch. The things they said, I am sorry they said them to you, but they did not come out of my mouth and I could really care less about most of the people I sit with and what they think about you. I make up my own mind about who I hang out with…” She stops there, looks down at her tall dark brown boots for a moment and then takes another step forward. “…Or date,” she utters quietly, her eyes slowly making their way back up to Killian’s.

Killian’s eyes go wide as his mouth hangs slightly ajar, his mind unable to focus on one thought at a time.

_Did she just say that?_

_Is this a joke?_

_Did her friends put her up to this?_

_Does she want to date me?_

_Say something, idiot!_

“Oh.” _Well that is something, you git_.

Emma smiles weakly at him, keeping her eyes steadily on his as she shuffles her feet back and forth.

“So…you are saying yes then?” Killian manages to get out with only slight stuttering.

“Yeah.”

“To going to prom with me?” he questions, just to make sure.

“I would like it very much if we went to prom together,” Emma states confidently, her blonde hair blowing with the slight breeze passing by, her green eyes shining brightly and a small smile appearing on her face.

“Bloody beautiful”

Emma smiles grows even wider.

“I said that out loud didn’t I?” he questions, wincing notably.

“Yeah, but that’s okay with me,” she answers smoothly. “Thank you.”

Killiian slowly nods, trying to figure out how his own self-loathing and his hate for the people that ruined his afternoon could turn into the lightness and elation he is feeling now.

“Umm…could I have your number, maybe?” He is trying his best not to push his luck. He could figure out when to meet her or when to pick her up when they see each other at school but, because it is Emma Swan and he is him, he has to try for a little more.

“Of course,” she states as her hand goes to her back pocket handing her phone to him, while he grabs his and gives it to her in return. After numbers are exchanged and phones handed back, Killian doesn’t know what else to do, so he just stands there staring at the beautiful girl that turned his day around. Emma, of course, saves him again.

“Call me or text me later, Killian and we can work out the details of going together. Maybe we can even hang out before then; it is still a couple of weeks away.”

Holy shit. He is not sure if he is still alive because he feels like he is in absolute heaven. Not trusting his voice to not break, he simply smiles his biggest smile at her and nods. Simply giving a “sounds good” in reply.

Emma steps closer to him and he begins to panic but that all flies away when she gives him a small kiss on the cheek.

“See you on Monday, but I am sure we will talk before then. Don’t be a stranger,” she states while smiling at him and turning to walk in the direction of her small yellow Volkswagen.

All Killian can do for a couple moments is simply stand there in his orb of ecstasy. He is going to prom with Emma Swan. Killian Jones, the punk rock loving, eyeliner-wearing, poor orphan kid is going to prom with Emma Swan and she kissed him with her soft, pink lips on the cheek and he doesn’t think he can get any happier than he is right then.

(He is wrong, of course. Prom night with Emma in her long red dress and blonde curls and him in his tuxedo he rented, that Liam saved some money for, dancing together slowly, with her body so closely touching his, that is the happiest he can ever be.)

(He is wrong again, of course. Punching Neal in the face at the after party and running out of the cramped house with Emma’s hand firmly clasped in his, quickly jumping in his beat up car and Emma surprising the hell out of him by kissing him on the lips, well, that, that is the happiest he can ever be.)

(Robin meets him at his locker the next Monday with the Clash album, begrudgingly handing it over into Killian’s left hand. He would usually use both hands when holding something so precious to him but Emma Swan is holding the other.)


	2. ThatGirl!Emma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma Swan going to prom with Killian Jones? What world are you living in?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again there is quite a bit of swearing in this chapter and also a gay slur. Please take precautions if needed.

Emma’s day was going like any other. School was school, ya know? She met Ruby before class to chat and gossip; Elsa was out sick another day with the flu. They walked to her first class and then parted ways, telling each other they would meet up at lunch. Ruby had seemed a little hesitant when she said, “see ya later, Em,” but Emma thought it was just in her head, so she let it go.

Now she knows, she shouldn’t have done that. She should have asked Ruby what was wrong. She should have gone with her gut. Because maybe then she wouldn’t be sitting with Neal “motherfuckin” Cassidy and his group of moron friends.

She met Ruby outside the cafeteria doors, like always, and was just about to open up one of the double doors to go in when Ruby stopped her and asked her, with her god damn puppy dog eyes, if they could please sit with Victor today because she really likes him and it will just be this one time. Emma’s first thought was “hell no,” only slightly preceding her second thought, which was “this wouldn’t be happening if Elsa was here.” If Elsa was there Emma could sit with her and Ruby could go sit with Victor by herself. But, since that wasn’t the case and Emma didn’t want to sit by herself or with people she wasn’t really close to, she agreed, knowing that Victor sat with Neal. The guy that had broken her heart. The guy that hurt her. The guy that made her realize that the large amount of friends she had while she was with him, weren’t really “her” friends, they were with her because of him. Elsa and Ruby were the only ones who stayed.

Emma began dating Neal when they all started going to Storybrooke High. He being the son of Storybrooke’s biggest mover and shaker, Robert Gold and her the Sheriff’s daughter, it seemed like they were meant to be. The relationship started out well enough; Neal was sweet and bought her things, which was nice, but not really necessary for Emma. All she wanted was someone to be there and listen to her when she needed them.

After about 8 months of dating, Emma began to realize how much she had been withdrawing from her friends. She had not hung out with Elsa or Ruby in almost 2 months at that point. She thought she could still be a good girlfriend and keep hanging out with the friends she grew up with. Neal did not seem to think so. As soon as Emma began to gravitate toward her friends during lunch or hang out with them on the weekend, he began to get angry. They fought more and Emma noticed how much more possessive he had become towards her. He asked her to text him numerous times while she was having girl’s nights out and he started to make up plans they supposedly had, making it seem like Emma had forgot and was neglecting their relationship. (Emma didn’t realize that was happening until after the breakup).

One day one of their fights carried over into Emma’s house. They walked into the door, standing facing one another, voices slightly raised, arguing about how much time they needed to spend together. Emma stated that she needed more space than what he was giving her. She needed to see her friends sometimes and she didn’t quite understand what his problem was. Neal went on about how she was neglecting him, stepping closer and closer to Emma as the fight went on. Emma being Emma, was not backing down. The climax of the fight came when Neal, unexpectedly, slapped Emma across the face. At that same moment her father came in from the kitchen to see what the racket was about. Emma stood there shocked, tears beginning to form in her eyes and with a very red cheek. Her father blew a fucking gasket. He arrested Neal on the spot for assault, brought him down to the station and locked him up in a cell with Leroy, the local drunk. Neal only stayed in jail for a few hours, his father bailing him out and giving her father a piece of his mind.

Emma decided from then on she could no longer trust people so easily. She had loved Neal and he had ended up hitting her.

_Would other people eventually do the same?_

Emma decided to block herself off from any other kind of relationship and focus on her friends and her studies. She liked school, she had enough friends and was smart enough that it was fun to go each day, even if it meant sometimes dodging out of the way of Neal and his judging brown eyes in the hallway.

So, here she is now, munching on her carrot sticks her mom specifically cuts up every morning just for her and trying to keeps her eyes away from Neal and his smirk, trying to block out the not-so-subtle whispering him and his two best friends, Walsh and Felix are doing. She is not doing the best job at ignoring them and she wants to be really pissed at Ruby but Ruby keeps sending her sympathetic glances and tries to involve her in the conversation she is having with Victor, so she can’t really be too upset with her. Ruby can’t help it if the boy she likes happens to be friends with Emma’s douchebag ex.

Emma is just about to reach for her bottle of water when she notices everyone at the table staring in her direction. The first thing she thinks is that Neal is playing some horrible prank on her but before that thought becomes permanently lodged into her thoughts, the boy himself speaks and decidedly not to her.

“Woah. What the fuck are you doing over here, faggot? Pretty sure you’re supposed to sit on the other side of the cafeteria,” Neal spits as he gestures with his chin towards somewhere over Emma’s right shoulder.

Emma quickly turns her head and immediately sees black. Black t-shirt, black jeans, black Converse sneakers. As she brings her gaze up, her lips part on a sigh.

Oh, it’s him.

Emma doesn’t know his name, just knows of him, has seen him around school before. He arrived in Storbrooke around the time they all started middle school. She knows that much because they don’t get too many newbies in such a small town. She also knows his eyes are very blue. The kind of blue that doesn’t usually exist in nature. The kind of blue you imagine the men in romance novels having, not in real life, and the eyeliner surrounding them only makes them that much more intense. His eyes make her want to run away and get closer at the same time.

The only other things she knows about him is what other people say. He is that punk, “goth” kid, who has lived with his brother since their dad left. His dad was a known drunk before that and nothing is really known much about his mother.

And those are the somewhat nice rumors about him.

She has heard he does drugs, that he drinks during classes, that he has to eat animals he kills in his backyard because he and his brother are so poor. She has heard lots of the football players and Neal’s group yell “gay” and “faggot” at him while he walks by. She feels bad that that happens to him, that he gets picked on a lot, that the girls that she sees look at him only do it because they think he will sleep with them and maybe make their boyfriends jealous enough to pay attention to them more.

She has never really talked to him, maybe just a “hi” or a “how are you?”, but nothing else. She thinks he keeps to himself mostly, only ever seeing him with that Robin guy (the one that she catches Regina staring at sometimes), and that little blonde girl named Tink with the green tights. She has often wondered what it would be like to be him. To not be Emma Swan, the sheriff’s daughter. To not be the girl everybody knows and everybody thinks they know so much about. To not be the girl that used to be with Neal Cassidy. To be free from so many expectations.

She notices immediately when he becomes aware she has been looking at him, his blue eyes meeting her green ones and, wow, making eye contact with him should not feel this exhilarating. She quirks her lips up in a slight smile at him, trying to make him feel a bit welcome, after Neal’s jackass comment.

“Hi, Emma,” she hears him say, her name coming from his lips like he has said it a thousand times and maybe she wants him to say it a thousand more, just for her.

_Oh shit, he knows my name. Oh right, of course he knowns my name, I am that girl._

_Okay, Emma, time to speak now. Oh right._

“Oh…um…hi. Um…sorry, I don’t know your name.”

_Good job getting that one out, Swan._

I’m Killian. Killian Jones,” he says, sticking out his hand in front of her.

She looks down and tentatively grabs his hand. She feels a slight spark when her skin touches his. He is warm. Like cinnamon swirl bread baking in the oven kind of warm and Emma thinks she might not be able to let go. He smiles so brightly at her that she feels like she has to show him something in return, even though she is not sure her brain is working at the moment. She gives him a small smile in back but then he begins to turn her hand and she knows she looks like a complete idiot with her mouth wide open cause the hot blue-eyed guy, _Killian, Emma, his name is Killian, he just said it_ , is now kissing her hand with his lips like some kind of prince. His lips are warm too but not in the same way as his hands, smoother like melted chocolate.  God she is in a daze.

She is just (reluctantly) letting go of Killian’s hand, when she hears a familiar (jackass) voice butt in.

 “Jesus Christ. What a fucking loser,” he snickers.

Emma removes her gaze from Killian to glare at Neal. She gives him her best “fuck-off dickwad” glare.

“Shut up, Neal. This is none of your business. My life is no longer any of your business, remember? Or would you like my father to remind you again?”

The glare and the words seem to be enough because his mouth shuts almost immediately. Small victories.

She swiftly goes back to ignoring Neal and looks back into Killian’s eyes, quickly asking him a question before any of the other assholes in Neal’s brigade can speak up.

“Was there something you wanted, Killian?”

Emma wipes her newly damp hands on her jean-clad thighs, trying to calm her nerves a bit from looking into those very blue eyes.

“Ya. I... Um…Emma would you like to go to…would you like to go to prom with me?” He finally gets out.

_Maybe he is as nervous as me_ , Emma thinks.

_Wait, did he just ask her out?_

_Is that what he said?_

_Killian Jones, the scruffy blue-eyed guy that Neal and his stupid friends make fun of, that she has noticed but been too involved in her own problems to really pay attention to, that guy is asking her to prom._

Realizing she has yet to answer the boy in front of her, she starts to speak, only to be interrupted by the loud roar of laughter to her left.  She takes her gaze away from Killian’s to see most of the people at the table in a laughing fit; Ruby being the only exception, looking just as confused as Emma.

Walsh is the first one to break through the noise.

“You think you have a shot with Emma Swan. Dude, what the fuck?”

Emma’s face goes bright red, a mixture of rage and embarrassment going through her body. She is not some special prize to be won. God, how had she ever been friends with those guys? She wants to say something, wants to speak up again and speak for herself but more people keep talking.

“Jones, you got balls, but come on with the eyeliner and the ratty clothes…” Victor utters.

Emma looks down at her lap, trying to figure out how to get control of the situation. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Ruby elbow Victor in the side and glare at him with all her fierceness.

_Ya, you tell him Ruby. If he does that, he is not good enough for you._

Emma is trying to find the words to fix this. Killian came over here to talk to her, to ask her a question, he should not be subjected to this shit just because she happened to be sitting with these douchebags today. God she wishes Elsa was here today and they could have sat at their normal table and then none of these cruel things would be said. Emma feels like she is just about to explode with all the shame and humiliation she is feeling but, of course, it has to get worse because Neal hasn’t put in his two-cents yet and God forbid.

“Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. Emma is not that easy,” he barks.  

Emma immediately shoots her gaze up to glare at Neal, all the fire of her embarrassment going into a death stare towards him. She’s going to kill that motherfucker. He will not ruin anything else in her life. (Of course, he comments on her sexual willingness. She was not ready when he wanted it and on that she had stood firm. Not that they didn’t do other things. Ugh.)

Neal continues (of course).

“Dude, you couldn’t afford to take Emma out,” he pauses slightly to catch a little more breath he lost from laughing so hard before. “God if her dad wouldn’t let me take her out anymore, he is certainly not gonna let her out with your welfare ass.”

How dare he bring that up? How dare he make light of what he did to her and the consequences that followed that he deserved?! How did she not see what a spoiled, entitled, piece of shit he was before?

Emma is all anger and power, about to spew her feeling about Neal for the whole cafeteria to hear when the bell signaling the end of lunch rings.

Everyone gets up almost immediately, grabbing their things and heading out the cafeteria doors to their next classes, acting like nothing happened, like the world didn’t just tilt on its axis. Emma stares for a moment at the empty chairs where, just a moment ago, her wrath was about to be aimed, and abruptly deflates. 

She slowly gets up, grabs her bag, pulls it on and finally gazes to see Killian. He looks miserable and she hates that the hopeful but hesitant spark in his eyes is long gone, only to be replaced with a dejected dullness. He looks at her for a solemn moment and right as she is about to move her hand to give his arm a comforting squeeze, tell him she doesn’t care about what they say and that she would love to go to prom with him, he turns and walks away.

She knows he is different than the others, that he isn’t Neal or her other so-called friends that all left, but he still didn’t give her a chance to say her piece, to say how she felt and she feels just a little bitter about that.

So, she takes one more look at him as he gathers his things at the table she presumes he was at before he decided to come talk to her and then turns and leaves the cafeteria herself, off to her next class, hoping nothing else happens; she doesn’t know how much more shit she can take.

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Emma takes a breath of fresh air as she exits the building, trying to cast aside the drama and bullshit of the school day, even if just for a couple of moments.

She barely gets that before the events from lunch come crashing to the forefront of her mind. Killian Jones is marching up to a beat up orange rusted pick-up truck, his battered black backpack covered in different band pins slung over his shoulder haphazardly. Regret rushes into Emma’s mind, regret that she didn’t get to talk to him more, regret that he didn’t stick around and regret that she didn’t give him an answer quick enough before her asshole of an ex and all his friends butted into her business.

Emma stands on the sidewalk in front of the parking lot contemplating what to do next.

_I should just go over there_

_No, he is the one that left you at lunch_

_But they were being cruel. He probably just wanted to get away._

_He didn’t even give you a chance._

_Prom might be fun with him though…_

Just as her mind comes up with that conclusion, she feels someone nudge her shoulder. Emma turns and sees Ruby walking backwards away from her with a huge toothy smile and an eyebrow raised. She nods towards the direction Emma was just staring, nods towards Killian, and mouths “Go get ‘em, girl”. Emma gives Ruby her signature “you’ve got to be kidding me” look with a definite note of “where the hell was this a lunch?” added in for good measure. Ruby just shrugs as her smile gets impossibly wider and turns around to catch up with, what Emma can only presume is, Victor.

Emma turns back to her former view, seeing Killian on the passenger side of his truck, messing with his keys to unlock the door.

_Now or never, Swan_.

 Now it is then.

Emma quickly walks to the driver’s side of Killian’s old truck and waits patiently behind the grey sedan parked next to it. She sees Killian aggressively throw his bag into the passenger’s seat, slam the door and begin the short trek to the other side. Emma tries to take the deepest breaths possible but is not sure she is succeeding. She has never been this nervous about asking someone on a date in her life and she really isn’t asking, she is accepting and hoping his offer still stands. She wasn’t even this nervous before her first date with Neal and that was her first date ever.

She sees the moment Killian notices her standing there. He goes stock still and looks a mixture between shocked and confused with a hint of anger that Emma can’t really fault him for.

_Here goes nothing._

“Hi, Killian.”

“Hi,” he answers. He is definitely weary of her, his bright blue eyes shifting to gaze all about her face, looking for something to be off.

Emma can relate. She knows what those people say about him and to him. What he must think of her for sitting with them. His “I don’t think I can take much more today, Emma” only confirms it and she can feel her whole body collapse in on itself. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, but she is Emma Swan, so she will at least try, try to make him see that she is not what he thinks, show him who she really is.

“No. No, I am not here for… that.” The last word tasting bitter on her tongue. She scrunches up her nose in distaste. Ugh, he must think she is the worst person in the world.

She looks down for a moment.

_Ugh, I scuffed my favorite brown boots again._

_Oh, shut up, Emma._

She goes to give an explanation, only to be cut off by Killian’s accented voice.

“Emma, if you don’t mind, I would really just like to get the hell outt-

_Oh no he is not doing this shit._

_He is not leaving again._

_He is going to hear me out_.

“Would you just shut up for a minute?!” she yells.

Killian’s face goes blank, mouth still slightly open from what he was going to say before. He is looking at her like she could not have surprised him more. He then schools his face and nods his head forward, signaling for her to continue.

_Okay, Swan. Let it rip._

“I am not that girl Killian. I am not the girl you seem to think I am based on how you just walked away from me at lunch. The things they said, I am sorry they said them to you, but they did not come out of my mouth and I could really care less about most of the people I was sitting with and what they think about you. I make up my own mind about who I hang out with…”

She stops for a minute, knowing her next words but needing a moment to get the last bit of courage she needs to say them.

One deep breath, two deep breaths...

She takes one step forward and quietly drops her final bomb.

“…Or date.”

Killian’s eyes go wide as his mouth hangs slightly ajar.

Emma smiles weakly at him, keeping her eyes steadily on his as she shuffles her feet back and forth. She is trying to be strong and confident in this moment and hoping to God she is pulling it off.

“So…you are saying yes then?” Killian stutters out, looking like she just told him to solve the most impossible math problem.

It takes only a brief moment for Emma to discern what he means and then quickly answer with a “yes.”

“To going to prom with me?” he questions.

She can only smile at his second question because now she can see a slight flash of hope in his eyes and she can feel her confidence rising, praying to all the heavens that she is not reading the situation wrong.

“I would like it very much if we went to prom together.”

_Good job, Swan._

_You finally got your point across._

_It only took you all day._

“Bloody beautiful.”

Emma startles for a moment, not quite knowing how to respond to such a compliment, especially from him. The only thing she can think to do is keep smiling, so she goes with it.

“I said that out loud didn’t I?” he questions, hesitantly.

_Oh, he’s a big sweet dork._

_Wow, people have it really wrong about him._

“Yeah, but that’s okay with me. Thank you.”

 She can feel herself blushing and hoping it’s not incredibly noticeable.

Killian just nods and she wonders if he has ever asked a girl out in his life.

“Umm,” he starts again, “could I have your number, maybe?”

“Of course,” she replies, maybe a bit overenthusiastically and goes for her phone in her back pocket, handing it to him and taking his in return. Their fingers lightly brush in the swap and she is reminded of how warm and comforting his hand was earlier and how happy she felt when he had first come over.

Once they hand each other back their phones (Emma purposely brushing his hand again. Can you blame her?), Killian just looks at her in awe and she wonders what he sees when he looks at her and if she will ever find out. Maybe on their date.

“Call me or text me later, Killian and we can work out the details of going together. Maybe we can even hang out before then; it is still a couple of weeks away.”

Emma doesn’t know where the ability to get out such a reply came from, nor does she know when the hell she became this forward. Ruby always has to push her to interact with guys or to even get her and Elsa off the couch. But all she knows is that she wants to see him again, be alone with him again and she doesn’t know if she can wait until prom for that.

He simply gives another nod and a quiet “sounds good” in reply.

And, like before, she does not know where the hell this flirty, take-charge-with-a-boy-you-just-met Emma came from but apparently she is still holding the reigns because she is now stepping closer to Killian and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

“See you on Monday, but I am sure we will talk before then. Don’t be a stranger,” she jumbles out, smiling at him but also trying to get away and to her bug as soon as possible. She needs to start breathing normally again, or breathing at all if she is being honest.

Emma speed walks over to her yellow car, only looking back when she gets to her driver’s side. Killian is in his truck now, staring with wonder at the steering wheel, only to break into a 10,000 watt smile that Emma can just make out from where she is standing.

As Emma gets into her car, starts her engine and adjusts her mirrors, she sees her reflection looking back at her. The same smile she saw on Killian is now gracing her face. She can’t think of a time she has been happier then right now.

(She has to amend that statement on prom night. She is wearing a long red strapless dress, with her hair long and in curls, curtesy of Ruby and Elsa, and Killian looks impossibly handsome and sexy in his tux. He picked her up at her house, her Dad showed him his badge and his gun and her Mom hugged him and he got her a corsage made of roses and now they are dancing so closely and he is so nice to her and warm and she can’t think of a time she has been happier.)

(Okay, she has to amend that statement again, of course, because nothing is more surprising and gratifying then when Killian punches Neal in the face at the after party and them running out of the cramped house with his hand firmly grabbing hers, quickly jumping into his beat up truck and her kissing the hell out of him on the lips and him being a really good kisser in return and at that moment she cannot think of a time she has ever been happier.)

(Robin meets Killian at his locker the next Monday with the album Killian was telling her about, Robin begrudgingly handing it over into Killian’s left hand. Killian had told her about the deal when they talked over the phone before prom. She had been suspicious at first, but then, when he was frantically explaining how it came about, he slipped that he has had a crush on here since he first came to Storybrooke and that the deal finally gave him the courage to actually talk to her, so she forgave him but not before stating that she had to hear this album and that “it better be fucking amazing” and that if it got her to meet him than she guesses it is okay with her and its especially okay now that Killian has the album in his left hand, squeezing Emma’s with his right, while he looks at her like she is the most precious treasure in all the world.)


End file.
